"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit." (Aristotelian Philosophy, Nicomachean Ethics II.4)
True, false, good, bad, useful, not so useful, etc.? Discuss.
My thoughts:
I'm aware of many quibbles with this idea, ranging from religious beliefs in predestination to non-religious beliefs on genetic or environmental affects on character, but it rings true to me.
Ethics, as such, seems to me to presuppose both free will and an effect of "becoming" over time based on how we exercise that will. A "person" who can't become a "better person" isn't a "person," it's a "robot."
From a non-religious perspective, the reward for "excellence as a habit" is no more, and no less, than just living a good life, and that seems a like sufficient incentive in and of itself.
On the religious side, some sects, especially in the far east, encode that idea across more than one life -- actions in this life affect the circumstances/environment of rebirth into a next life, generally as part of some kind of ascent up the ladder of enlightenment.
